In 1941, a beautiful, large sandstone clock was donated by Mrs Janet Herald to the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre.
Now 78 years later, the clock is abandoned inside Shuttle Row and has sadly fallen into considerable disrepair. Indeed, unfortunately, and, with lots of deliberation, the decision was taken by the David Livingstone Trust that the clock needs to be demolished and disposed of.
The decision was made according to the Museum’s Disposals Policy after the museum team assessed with care the condition of the clock. It is, unfortunately, beyond renovation.
But there’s Hope……
After learning about this in June 2019, and knowing the Trust have no budget to deal with this particular issue, local heritage organisation, Blantyre Project and Blantyre Telegraph decided to step in, determined to preserve Blantyre’s Heritage and to save the Herald Clock.
Meeting twice with Contractors on site during July and after permission from Trust staff, ownership of the clock was transferred over to Blantyre Project with a view of removing the clock from the site for a complete overhaul from scratch. But at a third of a tonne, this wasn’t going to be easy….or cheap!
Blantyre Project with assistance from fundraising at Blantyre Telegraph aims to ‘Save the Herald Clock’ by completely restoring it.
This is a monster job! The stone block weighs 0.3tonnes and was inside the Shuttle Row building with renovation work going on all around it. Safety was paramount, so we submitted risk and method statements for its removal from the site, saving it from planned demolition.
The task involved manoeuvring it through the building, out narrow doorways and up on a transport vehicle to take offsite for storage.
A proposal has been costed up to save the clock including:
- Safe transport from site
- Completely stripping it back to the stone
- Removing all ironwork and broken mechanisms
- Cleaning, drilling larger pockets to house new mechanisms
- Purchasing and installing a new face and clock mechanism.
- New ironwork facing
- Upgrading to be compatible with mains power.
- Weather Protection, new casing and finishes.
- Restoration of the plaque
- Consideration of final display location
The whole project will cost approximately £545, which we hope to raise during 2019 via donations and undertaking as much of the work ourselves as and when time permits. All being well, we hope to see the Herald Clock returned back to its glory.
Update: 09/08/19: People are being SO generous! A fantastic £425 has been raised in the first 24 hours alone. Thats 78% of what we’re raising. Can we get this up to the £545 needed?! If you can spare a pound or two to save this clock, please donate here:
You can read more about the history of the clock here:
https://theblantyretelegraph.com/save-the-herald-clock-history/
Can YOU spare a £1 or two to help? You can DONATE to saving the clock here: https://theblantyretelegraph.com/save-the-herald-clock/
